Description

Waking up on a stone slab in a morgue, which the zombie workers just pushed into the room, a big man with a face deformed by scars, his back marked by strange tattoos, looks at the dead bodies scattered around the room through the dim light, unable to understand who he is. He is sure that he is dead, yet he is also sure that he moves, thinks, and feels. Memories of love, a woman's face, good and bad deeds of his life - all his past appears in a flash, only to be replaced by the dreadful reality of the mortuary.

His journey begins with only one goal: he must learn his name, find out what had happened to him, and which forces prevent him from dying in peace, like all other human beings. The Nameless One opens the doors of the mortuary, only to dive into a world full of fateful encounters, strange characters, broken hopes, despair, and hatred. Piece by piece he shall solve the puzzle and re-discover his own past.

Planescape: Torment is a role-playing game that uses a heavily altered variation of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition rules. It is set in the Planescape, the exotic AD&D setting which is composed out of various "planes" of existence, with unique characteristics to each. The game features the party-based, "real-time-with-pause" Infinity Engine combat system, which was previously employed in Baldur's Gate.

Character growth is handled via the standard AD&D attributes, which can be raised and modified in the game. Abilities which are not exclusive to combat, such as Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, play a special role in the development and outcome of many of the game's conversations and quests. Dialogue options may become available only if the corresponding character parameter is sufficiently high. The outcome of the final quest and thus the ending of the entire game also depend on the way the player has been shaping The Nameless One during the journey.

Various fairly exotic characters - including a talking floating skull and a winged succubus who runs a "spiritual" brothel - will join the hero on his quest. These characters belong to the traditional AD&D classes of fighter, mage, thief, and cleric. The Nameless One himself starts as a fighter, but is able to become a mage or a thief if he meets certain requirements and completes certain quests. The hero is unable to wear armor, but can enhance his defenses with special tattoos.

Though combat occupies a significant portion of the game, much of it is dedicated to acquiring experience through exploration of the Sigil, the game's main "hub" town, and performing quests for its inhabitants. The game is notable for containing a very large amount of in-game text and conversation.

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Add-ons

For both St. Patrick's Day and Easter of 2000 the developers released a pair of character add-ons: Leprechaun Annah and Eastern Egg Morte. These change all the graphics and animations for said characters and, in Morte's case, add new sound samples that were left in the cutting room.

Cover

So who is the guy that appears in the box covers and ads as the Nameless One? Game director Guido Henkel himself (with some heavy makeup and after some digital post-production of course).

Cut content

One feature that didn't make it into the game from the vision document was the ability to change the character's smell.

Cutscenes

In the initial concept for the game the title screen menu was to have an additional tab for viewing the cinematics. Though it was removed for reasons unknown it still made its way into some manuals which state the title screen should have a "Visions" tab for movies.

Language

Morte
If one is to believe a certain motion-picture-like print ad that ran in late 1998 (you know, the ones that go "so and so present a so and so production starring...") you'll find that Morte's last name is "Rictusgrin".

Music

The music that plays in the Civic Festhall is from the 2nd movement of Vivaldi's concerto for two oboes in D minor.

Novel

There is a novel based on the game written by regular Planescape suplement writters Ray Vallese and Val Vallese. The novel was later included for free with copies of Planescape: Torment when bought from the Interplay Store. A soundtrack CD is also available.

Trailer

There is a promotional trailer for the game featured on earlier Interplay titles like Baldur's Gate (NOT the one featured in the game's page and which includes gameplay shots), that includes completely unseen CGI footage that doesn't appear in any of the game's cutscenes. The trailer shows, among other things: the Lady of Pain floating around, Nordom in the Modron Cube, the Iron Golem roaming a forest, the Nameless One at his tomb, Hargrimm casting a spell, Ignus being consumed (probably his origin?) and several other creatures plus many POV sequences which show places and scenery (you know, the ones that get triggered when you first travel to some location). Rumor has it that this is actually a mix of sequences made solely for promotional purposes and stuff that was cut out of the game for space considerations. In any event, save for a part of the shadow world intro, this is all unseen stuff.

Awards

Computer Gaming World

March 2000 (Issue #188) – Role-Playing Game of the Year

March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Character of the Year (for Morte)

March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Art Direction of the Year (for Morte)

October 2004 (Issue #243) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame

GameSpy

2001 – #45 Top Game of All Time

PC Powerplay (Germany)

Issue 06/2005 - #2 Likeable Secondary Character (for Morte)

Issue 11/2005 - #3 Game Which Absolutely Needs A Sequel

Issue 12/2006 - #8 Hype Disappointment (the number of sales was disappointing in relation the quality of the game)